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July 15, 2013
Election Timing and the Issues of Election Writs
Twice today I’ve been told of a scenario that sees Australia going to the polls on 24 August.
The scenario sees the Labor caucus meeting on Monday 22 July to approve Kevin Rudd’s proposed rules for electing the Labor Party Leader. Kevin Rudd would then visit the Governor General on Tuesday 23 July to call an election for 24 August.
Nice theory, but a Tuesday visit to the Governor General would require the election to be held on 31 August, not 24 August.
The writs for a 24 August election have to be issued on Monday 22 July, and there are several complications that make announcing an election and issuing writs the same day difficult.
According to the timetable set out in the Commonwealth Electoral Act, the minimum time period from the issue of the writ to polling day is 33 days. The day the writ is issued is treated as day zero, and from there you count 33 days to the minimum campaign period, also remembering that polling day must be a Saturday.
It is why writs are normally issued on a Monday just under five weeks before polling day.
However, the election is usually announced a day or two before the dissolution and issue of the writs. This is because of the time it takes to co-ordinate the legal rituals surrounding the process.
The Prime Minister must visit the Governor-General and request a dissolution and an election. There is little doubt the Governor-General will accept this advice, but then the legal technicalities come in.
A proclamation has to be issued dissolving the House of Representatives. The writ initiating the 150 House elections and the Senate elections for the ACT and Northern Territory have to be prepared and then signed by the Governor General.
In addition, the state Governors have to be located and instruction given to them through the formal channels to issue writs for the half-Senate elections.
All this takes time, though some of it can be prepared in advance so in theory, Kevn Rudd could ask the Governor-General to be in Sydney on 22 July so he can head over to Admiralty House after the caucus with the pre-prepared writs to call the election. But it would all be a bit rushed, and still run into potential problems with locating the state Governors.
Malcolm Fraser went through this process in one day with the snap double dissolution election in 1983, but the timetable for the election has since been made more rigid.
There is nothing to stop Prime Minister Rudd announcing the election for 24 August on the weekend before the caucus meeting, and then visiting the Governor-General after the meeting.
But one thing that won’t be happening is the Prime Minister visiting the Governor-General on Tuesday 23 July and asking for an election on 24 August.
An election called after the caucus meeting is more likely to be 31 August than 24 August.
Posted by Antony Green on July 15, 2013 at 10:25 AM in Election Date Speculation | Permalink
Comments
Kevin Rudd has announced changes to the timing of the transition of a Carbon Tax to an Emissions Trading Scheme (I think these are the right terms). Would these changes require parliament to pass amendments, or can they be made by Cabinet without Parliament returning on 20 August? Otherwise it becomes an election promise, not a change of government policy.
COMMENT: The change requires legislation which requires parliament to sit. If parliament doesn’t sit then the proposal is essentially an election promise
Antony, why are the State Governors involved? How can they be instructed to do anything by the Federal (rather than State) parliament?
COMMENT: Because the Constitution says they issue the Senate writs. As I wrote in the post, the Governors are requested to issue the writs through the formal channels, which formally means on the advice of the state Premiers, but informally means the writs are issued for polling on the date requested by the Prime Minister.
This mattered in 1974 when the Whitlam government had requested that writs be issued for a half-Senate election. The Bjelke-Petersen government issued the writs for the appointed date, but issued the writ early before Senator Gair had resigned to lock in five Senate positions rather than six. I do not think similar games would be played today.
Posted by: SomeGuyOnTheInternet | July 15, 2013 at 11:08 AM